There are only a few people who have the original ADT-1 Android TV device - those who attended Google I/O 2014, or those who got lucky on eBay and bought one of them from attendees. That being said, the owners of the Tegra-powered set-top box are probably among the most dedicated of Android fans, being either developers willing to travel to Google's extremely limited and expensive conference or regular users willing to spend a ton of money on the aftermarket for a pre-release device.

Those people now have an easier method of flashing custom ROMs and other modifications to the ADT-1. The prolific Team Win Recovery Project, better known as TWRP, is now available for the original Android TV box. It's downloadable in app from the Play Store or as a direct download (if you've already rooted your ADT-1) or as a standard Fastboot image. The second option requires flashing it with a PC via a MicroUSB cable, which (depending on your setup) may mean taking it and its power supply out of the entertainment center. This build is the latest version of TWRP, 2.8.4.

Why root or ROM what's essentially an entertainment terminal? Probably because Google isn't going to update it any time soon. The last time the ADT-1 was updated was to Android 5.0.2 back in February, and it hasn't been given an Android M developer preview build like the Nexus Player. That's particularly frustrating for users, since Android M adds considerable functionality to Android TV. Head to the source link below for a download.

Comments

WORPspeed

Speaking of which, Did Android M preview do interesting things for the TV scene?

Michael Lavi

Two things for the Nexus Player: MPEG2 decoding (I think that's the right codec name) and the M sd card merge with onboard storage tihng is a real boon to TV devices because of all the games available.